When the Bus Stopped

Chapter 25

 "Lucy, come in for a coffee," she heard Alessandro's voice calling.

Giving her head a slight shake Lucy cleared the thoughts from her mind. She could see Alessandro leaning out of a small cafe window. "Oh. Hey!" Shuffling inside she joined him at his table.

"Been out making money?"

Lucy's face crumbled. "I've had a crap day to be honest." As she sat she felt her skirt edging precariously up her long legs. "For some stupid reason I decided to wear high heels for a door to door job."

"Oh right... you have a new job?"

"Well. I saw it in the paper. It seemed too good to be true, and now it turns out that it really was."

Alessandro smiled. "I think when you are feeling down and out you need to remember that saying 'some doors close so others can open'."

"Quite an apt saying considering all the doors that have closed on me today."

"Sales?"

She nodded.

"What are you trying to sell?" he asked. Lucy wondered if that was a trace of admiration in his voice.

"To be honest no one has let me half way through the monologue written out for me here so I'm not too sure myself."

"Well feel free to practice on me."

"Rightyo." She pulled a clear file out of her bag and flicked it open. "Hi. My name is insert here."

"Hello Insert Here. Nice to meet you."

Lucy eye balled Alessandro's coffee. He was acting a bit off. Drunk. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd Irish'ed up that Latte in front of him. "I'm just in the neighborhood today to tell you about a wonderful deal we have for retailing and installing heat pumps." As she plowed on through the cue cards in her lap she noticed that Alessandro was staring at her long bronzed legs.

"This is quite a deal," Lucy marvelled at the cards in her hands some time later.

"Really? I'm sorry I got a little side tracked there."

"I noticed. Are you drunk?"

"Somewhat. So why didn't anyone let you past the first line?"

"Apparently my skirt was too short so that eliminated all of the households with little kids or dirty husbands. Then my dreadlocks seemed to eliminate me from entering conservative god fearing households and it appears that there were no other houses around. There are no bogans or tree huggers in this whole village!"

#

"Alessandro, darling!" The shrill voice rang out. "How lovely of you to be throwing this Gala. 'Feed the Kids' is such a deserving charity. And with a handsome man like you supporting them they will get the lime light they deserve." An overly bleached woman appeared at his elbow, fawning about him like he was some kind of Buddhist statue that she needed to rub for good luck.

Lucy struggled not to throw up in her mouth for the umpteenth time that night. Some people, Lucy decided, have no self respect. It wasn't that she thought people should be decidedly impolite to him, just to make a point, but it was the way they groveled while Alessandro watched coolly on. Alessandro wasn't acting any better. Instead of offering the poor women a seat and firmly telling them to calm down he'd taken to acting like the biggest jerk imaginable. Like he was god's gift to starving kids and salivating women worldwide.

"Are you ok?" Alessandro directed at Lucy. Not even bothering to respond to the bleached woman standing in front of him so hopefully.

"Me? I'm alive." Just! When she'd told Alessandro that she would come to the Gala she'd had a strange notion that it would be a load of kids sitting around looking peckish and telling stories about their struggles. Or perhaps someone selling roast dinners with all the proceeds going to abused pets. She hadn't imagined that - while the Charity was a very worthy cause - she would be constantly battling with her claustrophobia. From above a large chandelier threatened to fall and squash her at any moment. And around her a sea of women that were determined to throw their cap at her dinner date... threatening to drown her under their well shod heels.